Tag: Utah

The first two weekends out west in August had two $5K pong tournaments on the schedule. The first was hosted by SLC Pong and was played at Sandy Station in Sandy, Utah. The second was hosted the following weekend by NWBP at Aston Manor in Seattle, Washington.

Rewind to a few days prior when OGP came out with their player ballot rankings.

The most recent results of the polls did not sit too well with Arizona ponger and founder of Pongstars (Pongstars.net), Brandon Marx.

St. Louis ponger, Ross Hampton, was slated atop the list and was seemingly settling into a comfortable lead for that top spot. It’s hard to argue against someone whose resume is as accomplished as his with multiple major/mid-major victories and countless bid wins to his name.

However, Marx set out to these tournaments with the intentions of turning that potential argument into a difficult one.

His first stop was Sandy Station at the SLC $5k in Utah where he dominated the competition. Marx finished 1st and 3rd in the Kickoff tournament on Friday night, winning it with Utah ponger, Cody Castle, against a pair of Las Vegas players, Justin Spurrier and James Tripp. California ponger Mark Pimentel picked up the 3rd place nod with Marx.

This wouldn’t be the last check “Marky Marx” cashed that weekend as the duo took down the Main Event in the following days. Marx and Pimentel went head to head with Minnesota (Wisconsin) ponger Kyle Eller and another California ponger Josh Schwent to pick up the victory.

All familiar names would round out the top 3 spots of the singles tournament on Saturday night, as Justin Spurrier came out on top with Kyle Eller and Mark Pimentel hot on his heels.

Coming off multiple wins in Utah and seeing another $5k tournament in Seattle as an opportunity to carry on towards his mission of proving he’s the best in the game right now, Marx boarded a plane to Washington.

Since his decision to play was last minute, Marx needed a World Series of Beer Pong XI Satellite Tournament partner when he arrived and picked up a rookie Seattle ponger, Michael Williams.

A Satellite Bid win here would seemingly be a difficult one as Ross Hampton had paired up with Marx’s Main Event partner for the Satellite tournament, former WSOBP singles champion, Brad Mosdell.

The two teams met in the finals and had already seen each other early on in the bracket. Hampton/Mosdell needed to win 2 games against Marx/Williams to take home the bids. Both teams shot lights out through multiple OT’s but Marx/Williams prevailed, qualifying themselves for next summer’s World Series of Beer Pong XI Main Event in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Westgate Resort & Casino.

Seattle $5k WSOBP XI Satellite Tournament Winners

The singles tournament was next on the schedule and it told more of the same story. Ross and Marx were squaring off in the finals for the 2nd time. The series was nothing short of expectations as both players shot phenomenally. However, Marx once again came out on top.

Seattle $5k Singles Winners

The Main Event of the weekend had reunited a pair of players who once hoisted the WSOBP $50,000 Grand Prize check together. (Something Marx has yet to have the pleasure of doing.) Former St. Louis native Matt White had recently relocated to Seattle, leaving little opportunity for him and his former battery mate Ross Hampton to Seek n’ Destroy as many tournaments as they use to. The two took the top-seed in preliminary play.

The duo made a run through the playoff bracket and got to the finals to once again create a Hampton/Marx championship. Marx, now teamed up with Canadian ponger Brad Mosdell, was looking to sweep the entire event with a victory. Having only missed a handful of shots in 2 games as a team, North meets South (Marx/Mosdell) secured the Seattle $5k Main Event.

Seemingly, Marx’s mission was complete. He was overtaken in the player voting polls by who is widely considered the best player on the planet (Ross Hampton) and set out to prove he is the better player. He couldn’t have asked for any more opportunities to prove it, as they met on the final table of every tournament over the weekend and he capitalized – winning all of them!

Seattle $5k Main Event Winners

Congratulations to all the pongers who shot well enough in either of these events to take home some cash!

2v2 Kick-off Tournament:
The 2v2 Kick-off tournament will start the festivities at 7:00pm on Friday night. The tournament will feature a double-bracket, double-elimination format. In other words, you can enter into two separate brackets with two different partners. Each bracket will advance a winner into the championship series. The outcome of that series will dictate who takes home the win.

Main Event:
Saturday, August 1st will open registration/check-in at 11:00am. If you have pre-registered for the event, which can be done here, you must check-in by 12:15pm. If you have yet to register for the tournament, you may walk in the day of the tournament and register to participate up until 12:30pm.

Preliminary play will start at 1:00pm and teams will complete between 6 and 8 games that will seed them in the playoff bracket of the Main Event the following day.

Sunday, August 2nd will host the top 32 teams from preliminary play based on teams overall record and cup differential (how many cumulative cups you won/lost by). The final 32 teams will be split into two 16 team brackets. Each bracket will advance a winner to the SLC Pong $5000 Summer Beer Pong Main Event Championship! Those two teams will play a best-of-3 series to crown a champion!

First place will take home a cool $2925 for their efforts. Second and third place won’t be left totally disappointed, as those teams will be compensated $1350 and $425 respectively. On top of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes, the best overall record, the best cup differential, the highest seeded ladies team, as well as the highest seeded co-ed team during preliminary play will also be rewarded with $75 each for their finishes!

Coors Light and Rockstar energy will be sponsoring the event and contributing to the prize pool, marketing efforts and making sure SLC’s players get to play on some slick tables this year!

Check back with the BPONG blog next week for a recap of the all the action that goes down in Sandy, Utah this weekend!

For more information about SLC’s $5000 Summer Beer Pong Championships (like how to qualify to play for free!), please visit their webpage at www.slcpong.com.